International Strategy

Wal-Mart stores in the Chinese city of Chongqing reopened to surging crowds today, two weeks after being shut down by local authorities for violating food and product standards. 

Tiffany & Co. announced plans to open a store in Prague, marking the luxury retailer’s first location in Eastern Europe. The 2,600 square-foot store is scheduled to open in the summer of 2012.

With the economy still in flux here in the U.S., many retailers are looking at possibilities overseas for growing their business. If these retailers want to offer an online store for consumers abroad, it requires much more than just a localized website. They must know the payment expectations, regulations and requirements of the local markets and prospective customers. Retailers need to adapt their customer payment processing specifically for different geographies to support a successful international expansion. But what does that entail? 

Gap is closing stores and downsizing others in the U.S. as it focuses on international expansion, the company said. The long-struggling apparel giant plans to reduce the number of Gap brand stores in North America to 700 by the end of 2013, a 34 percent decrease in the number of those stores when compared to the end of 2007. It didn't specify which stores would close.

Columbia Sportswear said it's expanded its e-commerce operations by launching Columbia and Sorel branded sites in Canada and eight European countries. The new e-commerce sites in Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Austria, Belgium and The Netherlands — combined with existing sites in the United States, Korea and Japan — give the outdoor apparel and footwear brand 24 localized e-commerce operations in 12 countries.

Gap is growing its footprint in Latin America through franchising. The company will open its first stores in South America in Chile this month through a partnership with locally based merchant Komax. Gap will also introduce Gap and Banana Republic stores to Panama and Colombia in 2012.

American Apparel, the U.S. clothing retailer known for its controversial advertisements and founder, is bucking the trend in the U.K. and has reported positive sales growth despite the shrinking U.K. consumer's purse.

Tesco is capitalizing on the 45 percent surge in its online clothing business by expanding this service to international markets. The U.K. multichannel retailer will deliver its range of clothing to countries in Europe through Clothingattesco.com, to be relaunched this month.

Golfsmith has established a partnership with The MoreGolf Group, South Africa’s largest golf retailer, as part of a global strategy toward growth. At 78 stores, Golfsmith is the largest golf specialty retailer in the United States. It said it will reinvest the income generated from the just-announced partnership into its core U.S. business. In the past year, Golfsmith has formed new partnerships for its proprietary brands in Europe, Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand and now South Africa.

OneStopPlus.com announced its expansion in the Canadian marketplace with the launch of an exclusive shopping catalog and initial strategic TV advertising buy. The catalog offers an assortment of trendy plus-size fashion from proprietary brands, including Woman Within, Roaman's, Jessica London and Avenue, and the advertising buy seeks to target on-trend plus-size Canadian women in top networks.